Fantasy Football just like the NFL is a year long season (picture courtesy of opposingviews.com)
Yes, there is 96 days left until the Chicago Bears take the field which will seem like a lifetime after the Chicago Blackhawks playoff season ends with the way our great baseball franchises are playing right now.
There are many reasons that I think dynasty fantasy football leagues are way better than just your yearly re-draft league and here are a couple.
1. Ownership- When you have to assign contract years and draft rookies and keep your cash flow in the positive it makes it feel like you really own the team. You have so many decisions to make year round that it becomes part of you. If you just show up at a draft in August and submit a lineup for 13 Sundays it’s nowhere near as rewarding to win then when it’s your team year round.
2. It’s year round– Most people look forward all offseason (100 days to kickoff) to football and 12 weeks later they miss the fantasy playoffs and have 40 plus weeks to wait until next year. In dynasty league there is always something going on in the offseason from rookie drafts, restricted free agency, trades, free agents, and trash talk 365 days out of the year. No matter how your team finishes there never is an offseason.
3. Year Round Trade offers– Maybe it’s me but even though you know it’s probably horrible there is something exciting about trade offers, and most times the email’s you get from owners after you reject their offers. I was offered Justin Blackman (suspended first four games of the season) for my 2014 1st and 2nd round picks. I turned down the offer because Blackman is a head case and though talented I hate his QB situation in Jacksonville.
If you really want to know why Dynasty leagues are the best is because this is the kind of email you get after rejecting the Blackman trade.. intense all year long!!
“Pretty curious what you thought of this offer.
I would imagine two reasons a person would not like Blackmon are that he is missing weeks 1-4 next year and that he is on a presumably bad team.
Well, he has a three year contract… so he is available for 41 out of 45 games in that span. So that would be a pretty bad reason…
The Jags are the same team as last year, but they get MJD back, which presumably helps the offense. “But, but, but, Blaine Gabbert!!!” Well, one of two things are going to happen if (IF) Gabbert starts the season: he improves and stays the starter, or he sucks like he has so far and he is benched. If he sucks, he will likely be benched in the first four games… so when Blackmon returns, he either has an improved Gabbert or Chad Henne at QB.
“But, but, but, Chad Henne!!!” Well, how did Blackmon do when Chad Henne became the starter in week 11? During weeks 11-17 Blackmon finished as WR7. Yep, ahead of Welker, Julio Jones, Vince Jackson, Roddy White, AJ Green, Colston, Randall Cobb, Reggie Wayne, Victor Cruz… That’s not too bad.
Here’s the thing: you need another player. There are three ways to get one: trade an established star for two lesser players (your best asset is Forte, we know he isn’t going anywhere, AJ is old and won’t get two good players), use freek dollars to get a player (gonna be expensive, plus who has the depth to lose a starter until next year?), or give up draft picks (obviously a 2nd rounder or worse won’t get you anything useful, so it has to be a 1st, and then you run into the same problem, who has the depth to give a starter?).
Normally when somebody complains about another owner not taking a trade offer, I’ll say “so they have the same opinion of the players that you do, what’s the problem?” In this case, I can only sell this type of player because of my WR depth. I don’t prefer a 1st rounder to Blackmon… but Blackmon will never start over Dez Bryant, Percy Harvin, Brandon Marshall, or A.J. Green. Stevie Johnson is a top 20 WR for three straight years, but he does not carry the trade value of a top 20 WR… Cecil Shorts had a fantastic 2nd season last year with 979 yards and 7 TDs, but nobody seems to have caught up to his youth and value for some reason… so Blackmon should have the best trade value of those three WRs.
Blackmon was a top 5 NFL pick that lived up to the hype and the #3 rookie picked in our draft … and he isn’t worth a 2013 mid-late 1st rounder? Sorry for the novella, but this really seems like good value for you and I would really like to understand your reasoning.’
As you can see you don’t get this kind of imput on trades during Week #9 of your redraft league, but in dynasty you can get this email early in June!! This is why dynasty leagues are the best fantasy league to play in each season.
Are you in a dynasty league? How many leagues do you play in each season?
Go Bears!!!